Alexandra (Williams) Sullivan ’98 is a wife and a mother of three children. She and her friend, Father Michael Connolly, recently launched a podcast called Raising Saints: Helping Kids Hear God’s Voice, aimed at helping parents as they evangelize their children in the Catholic faith. Alexandra and Father Connolly answer kids’ questions about God, the Church, faith, and more! In addition to co-hosting the Raising Saints podcast, Alexandra is a skilled photographer and also founded a blog, Transform Our Hearts, which details her Catholic faith story with the hope of inspiring others to a deeper relationship with Christ. Alexandra holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Classics and Visual Arts from the College of the Holy Cross, as well as a Master of Arts degree in Photography from New York University. Find Raising Saints on your favorite podcast platform or at anchor.fm/raisingsaints. If your kids (or your family) have questions you’d like to hear Alexandra and Father Connolly try to answer, have them record it directly on the Raising Saints webpage or in a voice memo and email it to raisingsaintspodcast@gmail.com.
How did Kellenberg prepare you for success in college and in your career?
Obviously, Kellenberg is a top-notch education. The courses we took were well-rounded, thorough and challenging. I felt like nothing was missing. I learned how to write and think critically and to reason. In college could easily manage my workload and knew how to get assignments done. I had been trained in all of that at Kellenberg. My success in college was definitely a product of my solid education at KMHS. But life is not just about academics and career success.
My primary vocation is to my family, and I can easily say that my time at Kellenberg had its biggest impact in preparing me for my vocation. Nowhere else have I experienced the sense of community, love and service that I did at Kellenberg. The school is forming the whole person and providing a clear example of Christian love to its students. And isn’t that what I am doing in my role as wife and mother? I am creating a home where others thrive and flourish. My primary responsibility is to create a home life that encourages and builds up my children and helps to form their consciences, a place where they can see love in action and service to others lived out every day. And I learned that at Kellenberg.
You serve as Vice Chairperson of Kellenberg Memorial’s Advisory Board and attended your 20 Year Reunion last June. Why do you think it’s important to say connected to your alma mater?
It’s funny, whenever I return to KMHS it’s like I never left. I feel like I’m transported back 20 years and still feel like a kid. So when Brother Kenneth asked me to take on the role of Vice Chair, I was somewhat surprised, yet also excited. It was a very clear reminder that we are now of the age where we have the privilege of supporting our alma mater.
Kellenberg was a huge influence in my life. I can firmly say that without my experience at KMHS I would not be who I am today. I heard Brother Kenneth once say that they are in the business of helping their students get to heaven. Yes, they are! And that’s the most lofty goal any of us can have, helping those put in our path on their journey to heaven. How could I not support Kellenberg!?
What inspired you to start a blog and a podcast dedicated to supporting people of all ages in their Catholic faith journeys?
Well, this is an easy answer – God. The blog idea really was the culmination of months of prayer. Over the past five years I’ve experienced a deepening of my faith. It could really be called a conversion, because even though I’ve been Catholic my whole life, I didn’t really have a relationship with Christ. Last year I spent a few months working with a spiritual director (also a Kellenberg grad – Father Matthew MacDonald ’02) doing an Ignatian retreat at home. It was a lot of work and dedication but was incredibly fruitful. At the end it was clear to me that the direction that God wanted me to go was to share my story and experience with others, so that my witness might inspire others to seek more. I have a couple of posts on the blog that explains the how and why a bit more in depth.
The podcast came about in quite a different way, but I really think it’s been the work of the Holy Spirit. Father Connolly is the parochial vicar at St. Columba Church in Hopewell Junction. Though my family are parishioners at another local church, St. Kateri, my two eldest children go to the school at St. Columba. Father Connolly visits their classrooms on a regular basis. My daughter Samantha’s third grade class keeps a box of questions for him to answer during his visits. At one point I mentioned this to my best friend, who said he should do a podcast for those families not lucky enough to have this type of access to a priest. I thought it was a great idea and I suggested it to him. A few days later I got a message from him that said he loved the idea of the podcast but would I co-host it with him! He thought having a priest’s point of view coupled with a mother’s would be appealing to a broader audience. And that was it! We launched it a couple weeks later to great reviews. We are now wrapping up the season, before a short break for the summer, with 12 episodes. I’ve gotten a message from a non-denominational pastor asking questions. I’ve had friends, who have no religious association, listening. And we even get questions from parents who are learning more about the faith alongside their children. It’s been a really rewarding project and we hope to continue for hundreds of episodes!
Who was your favorite teacher/class, moderator/club, or coach/team when you were a student here, and why?
Ken Conrade, for sure. I was in his Latin class, and he was a good teacher. But it was the time he gave to his students outside the classroom that made the biggest impact. I was on the swim team and we didn’t leave KMHS until mid-afternoon to go to practice, so we had time to kill. And Mr. Conrade’s door was always open. We used to spend hours in his office after school just chatting and hanging out. I can’t even remember what we would talk about but what I do remember is that he always had time for us. I’m sure he had a million other things he could be doing, but we knew that we had his full attention. It made a huge impression on me as a teen and he was a great example of having a heart for others.